$3.68 Million Grant to Boost Public
Health “Informatics”New National Library of Medicine and Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation Partnership Will Develop More Public Health
Information Experts

Bethesda, Maryland — Without
strong systems for gathering, using, and sharing information,
federal, state and local public health offices cannot
adequately detect disease outbreaks, notify the public
of emerging health problems or promote sound health
practices. Recognizing the importance of this issue,
the National Library of Medicine (NLM) will administer
a $3.68 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
(RWJF) to develop tomorrow’s public health leaders in
the science of public health informatics.

Public health informatics is the practice of integrating
state-of-the-art computer technology for managing knowledge
and information to enhance the work of public health
professionals and others. The Foundation for the National
Institutes of Health will receive the money from RWJF.
The National Library of Medicine, a part of the National
Institutes of Health, will administer the grant program.
NLM has a longstanding history of training the country’s
biomedical informatics researchers and professionals.

The program funds educational training sites at four
universities — Columbia University, the Johns
Hopkins University School of Medicine, the University
of Utah, and the University of Washington. Students
at the sites will receive training in basic information
science and public health principles, focused preparation
in applying informatics to public health problems, and
on-site experience with public health agencies. All
four sites currently host informatics training programs
supported by NLM, and the new public health program,
which begins July 1, 2005, will build on this existing
base of experience.

“The health of our communities is threatened if we
cannot effectively analyze and share critical information
among public health agencies, hospitals and community
health providers,” said Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, M.D., M.B.A.,
president and chief executive officer of the RWJF. “This
collaboration will help prepare new leaders to be the
architects of sophisticated information systems that
can help public health officials respond to emergencies
and save lives.”

Graduates of the program are expected to pursue a variety
of career tracks. Some will enter directly into governmental
public health agencies, while others will conduct research
and train future generations of public health information
professionals.

The grant will support program development at the selected
training sites as well as stipends, tuition and other
trainee expenses. “In this day and age, no public health
agency can work in isolation,” said Donald A.B. Lindberg,
M.D., director of the National Library of Medicine. “Through
this program we will help put information sharing at
the center of efforts to connect all public health agencies.”

“Informatics can help us make a huge impact on public
health through disease surveillance,” said Charles Friedman,
Ph.D., senior scholar and leader of this initiative
in the NLM Division of Extramural Programs. “By integrating
health data from a range of sources — including
hospitals, clinics, and pharmacies — and applying
sophisticated analysis tools, we’ll be able to detect
disease outbreaks early, potentially saving lives and
preventing an enormous amount of suffering.”

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is the nation’s
largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving
the health and health care of all Americans.

The Foundation for the National Institutes of Health
was established by the United States Congress to support
the mission of the National Institutes of Health — improving
health through scientific discovery.

The National Library of Medicine, the world’s largest
library of the health sciences, is a component of
the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services.